A second former staffer of congressional candidate Carl DeMaio has come forward to accuse the gay Republican of sexual harassment.
Justin Harper, a 25-year-old Navy veteran who worked as a regional political director for Mr. DeMaio, told a local PBS affiliate about a July encounter he had with his boss in a bathroom at the campaign’s headquarters in San Diego.
“I was at the urinal, and [Mr. DeMaio] came from the stall that was closest to the urinal and was kind of just standing there hovering,” Mr. Harper said. “I turned around and realized that it was Carl. He had his pants up, but his fly was undone, and he had his hand grasping his genitals.”
Mr. Harper said he left the room without the two exchanging any words.
“I just walked out. I didn’t say anything to him, I just left,” he said.
In October, Mr. DeMaio’s former policy director, Todd Bosnich, accused the candidate of making repeated sexual advances toward him, openly masturbating in front of him, and grabbing at his genitals, Raw Story reported.
The DeMaio campaign dismissed Mr. Bosnich’s accusations, saying he had been fired for plagiarism and accused him of orchestrating a break-in at the campaign’s headquarters, Raw Story reported.
Mr. DeMaio was also accused in 2009 by a fellow council member of publicly masturbating in the men’s room of the San Diego City Council headquarters.
Responding to the new allegations by Mr. Harper, Mr. DeMaio’s campaign spokesman Dave McCulloch said: “Reporters with journalistic integrity have dismissed these false smears because they’ve been peddled by the same people fired from the campaign months ago — and the District Attorney dismissed these false allegations weeks ago.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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